Genesis
by NXSE
Summary: The fallout of Pain's assault was never reversed, and unforeseen divergences follow. With their military might greatly reduced the Leaf Village struggle to cope in a world on the brink of war, and without their symbol of hope there to fall back upon they are pushed to the brink of destruction. Naruto's decisions will decide the fate of the village, but will the village survive?


There was nary an owl hooting when Naruto had left his tent in the dead of night. He had briskly made his way towards the northern gate of the village, trying not to dwell on the pit of sorrow that the emptiness around this road left in his gut. It had been a month since Pain had assaulted and leveled the village, but it felt like yesterday when this place was crowded by people, the shops chalked full of couples chattering and buzzing around the lanterns illuminating the stores. There were no shops around anymore, and neither were the smiles. Even his beloved Ichiraku's was gone, and the loss of that place hurt him more than he cared to admit.

He had been four when he had first come across the Ramen shop. The memory was still vivid in his mind. It had been a gloomy day with dark clouds looming over the village. Monsoon had been imminent, but a little harsh weather hadn't been enough of a setback to keep him from practicing his shuriken. Two hours into his practice the rain had come down hard and fast. He ran through the fields in the suburbs as hard as his little feet could carry him, but hadn't even been able to reach the gates of the district his apartment complex was in before the heavy downpour coupled with strong winds had made it nearly impossible for him to go any further.

So he had taken shelter beneath a sunshade outside a small shop. The appetizing scent of Yakiniku had ensnared his mind, and without a second thought he had leaned half his body inside the shop to cop a look at the meat sizzling and crackling on the grill. A chef with an unusually tall toque was stirring something (very pleasant smelling) inside a large saucepan with a wooden ladle. He had felt someone's gaze drilling on his back, and had turned his head to look at a peeping tom with unnaturally golden hair and light blue eyes lingering outside his restaurant.

Naruto still remembered the fear that had gripped his heart. He had gasped and nearly bolted back into the storm before the chef's face had broken into a kind smile, and he had gestured Naruto to come inside and take a seat. It had taken a couple of hops to get on the tall counter stool, when a crown of red hair and beady brown eyes had unexpectedly popped out from behind the counter and made him fall on his back. The chef's daughter had rushed around the counter to help him up and had even offered him a bowl of ramen to apologize for hurting the little boy (who had animatedly tried in vain to assure them that he was fine and that their concern was completely unnecessary). This unexpected act of kindness had seen Naruto return the next day, and then the next, and before he had known it it had become a place that he had begun frequenting more than any other place in the village.

His thoughts veered off as the giant gates became visible, and he realized he had spent the entire trip in a rush of nostalgia the road had instilled in him. His strides became shorter and slower before he came to a halt altogether as the slim silhouette of a familiar person came into view. The moon lit her green eyes like polished emeralds, and they followed the movement of his arms as he adjusted the pack on his shoulder and grinned at her.

"Where are you going?" she asked, eyeing the backpack on his shoulder apprehensively.

"They finally assigned me to a mission outside the village! I've got to be there at the break of dawn." he said, rubbing his nose with a finger.

"Then why didn't you tell me?" she asked dubiously, a touch of hostility coloring her tone.

Naruto rose his hands defensively in front of his chest and flailed them around to elevate some of her hostile demeanor. "You don't get enough rest as it is, and I didn't want you to take the trouble to have to come see me off in the dead of night－that's why I didn't tell you about this, Sakura-chan." The skin under her lashes had lost some life, and her hair had none of the luster they had before－clear signs of stress and overwork. Her shifts were getting longer and more strenuous the more time she spent working at the hospital, and it hadn't been long before her skills had gotten recognized and had her elected to completely take over the operations of the medical facilities in the village, and lead them due to Tsunade's comatose state and Shizune's untimely death as the Head Medic.

"Oh." Sakura felt touched that he cared for her so, but she didn't feel entirely convinced by his words. Naruto had never been sensitive enough to worry about her when he was excited, and being assigned to new missions was one of the things that got him really wound up. He he had a habit of rushing into her cabin at the hospital to announce anything he got assigned to. It was an endearing sort of naivety that always uplifted Sakura's spirits. Seeing him always running around, doing something, no matter how small, to help the village, and never once dwelling on the tragedy that had befallen them filled her with a little optimism, too; but not everything was flowers and rainbows.

Naruto hadn't gotten along with the new Hokage as well as he had with the previous two. Tsunade-shishou and the Sandaime had always been willing to let Naruto have the freedom he wanted. It wasn't an unknown thing that Naruto had always enjoyed a certain leeway under the Third like no one else had enjoyed. His antics were always pushed under the rug. He had planted stinky bombs in the holsters of chunins on patrol duty, skipped classes and failed multiple subjects, and had even vandalized several public places including the desecration of the Hokage monument. The only reason they had gotten the first C-rank (subsequently switched to A-rank) out of any rookie genin squad had been because Naruto had sat down in front of the Hokage in silent protest until the "old man" had finally caved in and given him a better mission.

Tsunade-shishou had shown the same adoration to Naruto as the Sandaime had－if not more. He never had to take any missions he hadn't wished to partake in under her. His training trips were always paid in full by the village, and he had complete access to the village's archives (which he had never once tried to make good of, that idiot!) to select any book, scroll or manuscript he wished to read. Even if he had never realized it, this favoritism had always been a point of envy for many shinobi among their own age groups－and she herself had felt an inkling of it, too, if she were to be perfectly honest. But Danzo-sama had inherited none of the warmth from his predecessors.

His reputation had preceded him, but even Sakura had to admit he was especially harsh on Naruto. He had assigned Naruto to the rebuilding efforts at first, citing his proficiency with Shadow Clones to be a useful tool that needed to be put to good use. Naruto had been more than willing to help take some burden off Yamato-sensei, but the missions that came after had gotten more menial. Cleaning off rubble from demolished districts, carrying debris from the wreckage to the eastern gates and so on. It hadn't taken long for Naruto to snap and barge into the Hokage's office by force to give him an earful. Danzo-sama had not taken kindly to the disrespectful outburst, and had promptly barred Naruto from stepping a foot outside the village walls unless he had express authorization in writing from the Hokage himself and made him work even more odd jobs until the lesson of obedience had gotten through Naruto's thick skull.

Naruto, to his credit, had taken the punishment in stride, but it hadn't been long before murmurs about the strife between the Naruto and Danzo-sama had begun spreading around the village－and some rumors had even gone so far as to suggest that it was Danzo's jealousy on Naruto's nomination for the Hokage seat that was the root of the rift between the Hero of the Leaf and the interim Sixth Hokage－that's right, the Rokudaime's seat was still provisional, even if he got the vote of approval from the Jōnin council.

Only a Hokage can choose who would one day succeed him, and Tsunade had neither chosen a successor nor had she named someone to be her successor (even though her inclinations to choosing Naruto were public knowledge) in the event that she were to be incapacitated by an unforeseen circumstance. The only way for the Rokudaime's appointment to be made permanent was if the Godaime were to be labeled permanently incapacitated i.e., if she were to die in her sleep or never wake up.

Due to the village's strength being dealt such a lethal blow from Pain's assault, Danzo-sama had been forced to send most of his capable shinobi out to complete missions to sustain the economy and maintain relations with the clients－but that had come with a cost. To keep the village from being completely defenseless in the wake of another siege, Naruto had practically been chained to the village as a deterrent to external threats. Which is why Sakura had couldn't help but feel a small amount of uncertainty as to why Danzo-sama would authorize Naruto to do a mission outside the village.

"What's the mission?" she asked him, and noted with bated breath as his grin fell for a moment before being stretched to its original width again.

"I have to deliver an important package to a nearby settlement. They say it's a very urgent assignment, and that I have to deliver within seventy-two-hours." he replied earnestly.

Sakura's brows creased in thought hearing his bizarre explanation. "That sounds like a C-rank mission on the worst of days. Why would they send you of all people to do run such a trivial errand?" she said. It was such a silly notion that she refused to even call it a mission; this felt more like a chore.

"Don't ask me." Naruto said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm not the one who calls the shots, after all." The way he said it left an eerie taste in her mouth. There was a touch of disdain in his voice that she had never heard from him in all the years they'd known each other. He tried to look clueless, but Sakura could see through his facade even in this dark an environment.

"Where's the scroll for the mission?" she asked.

Naruto reached into his hip pouch and threw the scroll to her. She caught and unfurled it in one swift motion and squinted her eyes to see the handwriting clearly in in the dark. The wax seal was genuine, and it was no doubt Danzo-sama who had signed this.

"_Deliver a package containing strong disinfectants needed to clean the settlement's water supply. Package fragile in nature, handle with caution_" it said. Her lips curled in distaste as she rolled the scroll, tied the thread back and threw it back to Naruto. Sakura's eyes went to the pack on his shoulder, and a small doubt niggled in the back of her mind.

"That's looks like quite the backpack for a three-day mission." she whispered apprehensively. She saw his smile vanish completely, and with no little amount of effort choked out her next question: "You'll be back in a week, right?" she asked.

"Of course." he replied in a monotone voice.

Sakura watched him walk past her without another word. She closed her eyes and joined her fingers as if in silent prayer, and an onslaught of emotions flooded her heart－anger, dread, and most of all helplessness. For a moment she felt as if she had been thrown back in time. This felt exactly like three years ago, and she didn't want to lose him the same way she had lost Sasuke. But she knew no amount of persuasion would stop him, and he would never let her come with him to wherever it was he was going. In her heart, she knew there was only one thing she could at that moment.

"Naruto..." Sakura whispered. She heard his footsteps stop behind her and tried to blink away the thick tears threatening to break loose. She bit her lip to force back a sob and turned to look at him with teary eyes. "Promise me you'll come back. Promise me."

He looked at her with the same impish grin and thumbs up he had given her three years ago. "I promise! You take care of Tsunade Baa-chan while I'm away. The leaf needs its Hokage, and I'll get her back to speed soon as I'm back－believe it!"

She couldn't help the giggle that broke free from lips, and she wiped the corner of her eyes with her finger as she whispered, "That idiot..."

* * *

**Author's Note : This fiction idea has been on my mind since about two years, and I finally feel confident enough in my skills to be able to write it decently. As it already has been mentioned in the prologue, Pain's assault was not reversed. Whichever character died in the attack stays dead, and that's how the canonical time-line diverges for my AU. As per usual, you know the drill about reviews and favorite/follows. Until next time, then!**

**PS : Feel free to contact me on discord. The link is discord dot gg / SPH yXuN.**


End file.
